Letter to the Editor
Defining America
To the editor:
A writer responding to my recent letter agreed with my argument that America’s founding was fundamentally secular. The writer then correctly pointed out that most of the men who signed the Constitution identified as Christians. America is therefore a Christian nation and must be culturally identified as Christian.
The first statement is true. The second does not follow.
Every signer of the Constitution was also a white man of European descent. By the same logic, we would have to conclude that America was founded as a white nation, and is therefore culturally white. Few Americans today would accept that proposition. The personal characteristics of the founders do not automatically define the nation they created.
The Constitution’s signers came from a wide range of religious backgrounds, including Anglican, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, Methodist, and Catholic traditions. Some were devout churchgoers. Others were strongly influenced by Enlightenment thought, and several are commonly described as Deists who believed in a creator but rejected miracles and divine intervention as violations of natural law.
What matters is not who the founders were, white, Christian, or non-Christian. What matters is what they created.
A common argument in American political discourse is that because a majority of Americans identify as Christians, America must be a Christian nation. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly two-thirds of American adults still identify as Christian.
But asserting our nationality as Christian assumes that Christians form a unified group with common beliefs, values, and political goals. Nothing could be further from the truth. American Christianity is extraordinarily diverse. Christians disagree not only on politics but also on theology, morality, biblical interpretation, and the proper role of religion in public life. Simply knowing someone identifies as Christian tells us very little about who they are or what they actually believe.
Some Christians believe every sentence of the Bible is literally true and serves as the final authority on all matters of faith and conduct. Others see the Bible as a collection of writings edited, rewritten and reinterpreted over centuries that must be understood in historical and cultural context.
Some Christians emphasize divine judgment and eternal punishment. Believe or burn in hell. Other Christians emphasize grace, mercy, forgiveness, and inclusion. Some churches practice speaking in tongues, faith healing, or snake handling as expressions of faith. Others regard such practices as misguided or extreme. These are not minor disagreements. They represent fundamentally different understandings of Christianity itself. The divisions become even sharper when religion intersects with politics.
Millions of Christians view President Donald Trump as a champion of Christianity in public life. They see him as an imperfect but necessary leader sent by God to fight against what they think is a war on Christianity. They support taxpayer assistance for religious schools and often argue that faith-based perspectives should play a larger role in public education and public policy. They agree with Trump when he proclaimed “I am the Chosen One.” Some religious leaders have elevated Trump to nearmessianic status, treating criticism of him as criticism of the broader Christian cause and insulting to Jesus.
Yet millions of other Christians hold exactly the opposite view. They see Trump as embodying values that directly contradict the teachings of Jesus Christ to care for the sick, feed the hungry, and welcome the stranger. They regard Trump as a morally flawed, corrupt, deeply narcissistic, incompetent clown. They view Trump as fundamentally indifferent to constitutional principles and democratic norms. Some prominent Christian leaders have openly denounced him to be a threat to American democracy and the world order that has kept us safe since the end of World War II.
Both groups claim to be guided by Christian faith. Both appeal to Scripture. Both believe their political positions reflect religious conviction. Yet they arrive at dramatically different conclusions.
So when someone declares that America is a Christian nation, anobviousquestionfollows: Which version of Christianity? Whose interpretation prevails? Which doctrines, values, and political priorities define the nation?
No single answer exists. The same pattern appears in nearly every major public policy debate. Christians disagree over healthcare, poverty, immigration, taxation, criminal justice, environmental protection, military intervention, and economic policy. One Christian may point to Christ’scommandstocareforthe poor, heal the sick, and welcome strangers as support for expanded government programs. Another may argue that Christian principles emphasize personal responsibility, individualism, limited government, and private charity. Both perspectives emerge from sincere religious conviction.
The challenge facingAmerica is not choosing one religious viewpoint over another. The challenge is finding common ground that allows citizens with profoundly different beliefs to live together peacefully within the framework of the Constitution itself.
America today is home to Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and millions of others whose beliefs fit none of those categories. Even within Christianity, there is no single theology, no unified political philosophy, and no consensus on many of the nation’s most important issues.
This is why the phrase “America is a Christian nation” generates more heat than light. It oversimplifies a complex reality and assumes a level of religious unity that simply does not exist. More importantly, it misses what makesAmerica unique.
America’s defining characteristic has never been religious uniformity. From the beginning, the nation has been an experiment in pluralism, a society built on the idea that people with different beliefs can coexist as equal citizens under the law. Saying America is a Christian nation is a bland simplification that misinterprets our unique and historical greatness.
A more accurate description of our country is to say that America is the greatest and most successful nation in history built on the principles of individual liberty, equality before the law, inclusion, and government by the consent of the governed. Those principles do not require religious agreement or a misleading generalization of religious identification.
The founders understood that personal religious beliefs are deeply important and will profoundly influence individual behavior and choices. They also understood that those beliefs should not be written into a national social contract binding citizens of every faith and no faith. That insight was revolutionary in the eighteenth century. It remains revolutionary today.
Defining America as a Christian nation adds nothing of merit or understanding to the political discourse. The continued health of our 250 year-old democratic republic depends on how determined we voters are to keep it, as Ben Franklin said. Given the plurality of religious belief in our great nation, it matters less how much a candidate claims to love Jesus and more how much a candidate sincerely loves the Constitution.